Published by Hi comics, Peinescape is the second part of a highly unlikely encounter: the acidic and delirious universe of the cartoon Rick & Morty breaks the venerable role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
The Magical States of America threatened with extinction…
While in the first volume, the Smith family was shaking up role-playing, the opposite happens in this second volume. Magic permeates the daily life of the United States. The family has bonded thanks to the game but this harmony annoys grandfather Jerry. This embittered old man is angry with the popularity of the game and its mercantile drift. D&D matches are commented on television with a Smith family is in a trance in front of this spectacle. The first page is therefore the direct continuation but this volume can also be read alone. Role-playing has invaded everything: game shops of course but also phones by an app, art galleries, archery classes and even an educational nursery to learn how to roll dice. If, at first glance, the pretentious Rick mocks this universe, deep down he has always seen it as a space of savagery, freedom and not a way to sell useless objects. It is he who will discover the truth: the family has brought back from its previous expedition a virus in the shape of a die. By going to fight them, the grandfather allows a minstrel Rick, a magician Rick and last barbarian to invade his dimension.
From a beautiful meeting, anything can happen
The fan of Rick & Morty finds his feet. Rick takes a gun of blood from his grandson. The mother drinks more than reason. But, much stronger, satire gives way to emotion when this dysfunctional family finally comes together by going into the world of D&D. This clash of opposites also provokes an avalanche of jokes. Indeed, the screenwriter Jim Zub manages the feat of being faithful to these two opposite universes but, in addition, to be at the same time deeper, touching and funny than in the first adventure. The latter is passionate about heroic fantasy and a player. This is felt when he quotes The Crystal Shard, a novel by R.Has. Salvatore in a fake teleshopping. We see on several squares the co-creator of the first game. The publisher has also called on a game specialist to proofread the translation. Strangely, Jim Zub also aligns Rick's philosophical references: Feuerbach, Kant among others. Centered on Rick's past and the origin of his passion, this second volume is further proof that this meeting of two distant universes produces magic. The grandfather is still funny by his lack of morality but not only… His love of role-playing is almost psychoanalytical: every character you create is actually a part of yourself. To save the Earth from the savage hordes, Rick will have to admit his faults… at last almost.
